Las Vegas, NM --- The Highlands Men's Basketball team goes into the weekend after a great weekend sweep against MSU-Denver (77-71) and Chadron State College (96-76).
The Cowboys beat the MSU-Denver Roadrunners 77-71, and they ended the long road trip with a big win against the Chadron State Eagles, 96-76.
NMHU standout guards,
Sammy Barnes-Thompkins and
Raquan Mitchell both showed up offensively this past weekend as they scored a combined total of 85 points for the weekend. The duo also combined for 20 assists to help the team earn road game wins.
Desmond Carpenter also contributed with 11 points on Friday night's contest, and 18 points on Saturday against Chadron State.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Cowboys have made a living this season off of their back court play, and full court press that forces teams to play at their quick pace. Highlands currently leads the league in scoring offense at 89.6 ppg, turnover margin at +4.45, and they're in third place for steals with 7.5 steals per game. NMHU also has the top two leading scorers in the league in junior guard,
Sammy Barnes-Thompkins (24.8 ppg) and senior guard,
Raquan Mitchell (23.9 ppg).
Sammy Barnes-Thompkins also leads the league in steals, averaging 2.1 steals per contest, and Mitchell leads the league in three pointers made, averaging 3.1 threes per game.
CSU-Pueblo (11-16, 9-12 RMAC) currently sits in the 11
th spot in the RMAC standings after losing both games on the road last weekend to MSU-Denver and Chadron State. The ThunderWolves average 74 points per game while shooting 46% from the field and 35% from three. The Pack also average 33 rebounds and 9 assists per game. The ThunderWolves have a balanced attack with four players averaging double figures – David Simental (15 points, 2 rebounds), Brandon McGhee (11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists), Bryce Sanchious (11 points, 5 rebounds), and Tyson Gilbert (11 points, 3 rebounds).
LIVE VIDEO and
LIVE STATS will be available for Friday night's showdown with the ThunderWolves.
A CHASE FOR THE TOURNEY: NMHU has solidified a spot in the RMAC tournament, for the second year ina row, and currently hold the 7th place seed. With only one game remaining in the regular season, everybody knows a lot can happen with the way things will play out.
As of right now, here are the teams, in order, who have a chance to make the tournament.
CONF.
- Dixie State * (16-5)
- Black Hills State * (16-5)
- Colorado School of Mines * (15-6)
- Colorado Mesa * (14-7)
- UCCS * (13-8)
- South Dakota School of Mines * (13-8)
- New Mexico Highlands * (12-9)
- Regis (11-10)
- Westminster (11-10)
- Western Colorado (10-11)
*= Clinched Playoff Spot
SCENARIOS:
- If Dixie State and Black Hills win – Dixie State wins tie-breaker
- If Black Hills loses and Colorado Mines wins – teams go to point system for tie-breaker
- If Colorado Mines loses and Colorado Mesa wins – Colorado Mines has tie-breaker over Mesa
- If Dixie State loses and Colorado Mines wins – Colorado Mines beats Black Hills in tie-breaker
- If Colorado Mesa loses and UCCS wins – Colorado Mesa beats UCCS in tie-breaker
- If Colorado Mesa loses and South Dakota Mines wins – South Dakota Mines beats Colorado Mesa in tie-breaker
- If UCCS loses and New Mexico Highlands wins – teams split and go to point system
- If South Dakota Mines loses and New Mexico Highlands win – teams split and go to point system
Again, we will not know where the Cowboys will end up. But, we do know that they will be playing next week on Tuesday in the RMAC Conference Tournament.
GO COWBOYS!!
